Jerez – Day 1: Heidfeld is the fastest… on slicks!

Nick Heidfeld on BMW was the fastest driver on the first day of private testing in Jerez. For this second test week of the 2007/08 offseason, the German was ahead of Button (Honda) by one-tenth and de la Rosa in the McLaren. They were the only three to break the one-minute and nineteen-second lap barrier.

Nick Heidfeld was the first to use slick tires today, as authorized by the FIA for tests and only for tests. The German expected his new tires to make him about two seconds faster than his competitors equipped with ‘traditional’ tires, but the gap with Pedro de La Rosa is ultimately only six tenths…

Button occupies second position in the Honda. The Briton was also equipped with slick tires, likely the reason for his good time.

Kimi Räikkönen, making his first track appearance since clinching the world championship in Brazil, secured the 4th fastest time, ahead of Nelson Piquet’s Renault and the Frenchman Sébastien Bourdais in the Toro Rosso. He outpaced his teammate from the smaller Scuderia by about 0.5 seconds for the first time. This may be a good sign for the four-time Champ Car champion who was second on the timesheet at midday.

Gary Paffett, McLaren test driver, set the 7th fastest time ahead of Webber in the first Red Bull and Marc Géné in the other Ferrari. Mike Conway rounded out the top 10. The latter, who has a contract with Honda as a test driver but drives for Super Aguri in a rebranded Honda, is nevertheless more than 2 seconds off the lead.

His teammate, James Rossiter, is in 12th place, while Vettel slots in between the two SAF1 cars in the eleventh position.

For the first time in testing with Toyota, his new team for 2008, Timo Glock achieves the 13th best performance, far ahead of Kobayashi (now the brand’s test driver) but who remains the most diligent on the track with 111 laps.

Force India tested Giancarlo Fisichella and Franck Montagny today. They finished 14th and 16th, respectively. The former had an off-track excursion in the morning. However, the Italian was able to continue without too much damage to the car…

Nico Hülkenberg completed his first day in Formula 1 with Williams as he will continue his test with the team tomorrow. Notably, the young German is ahead of Nakajima… the regular driver.

BMW was also on track with two little-known drivers from GP2 – Marko Asmer and Javier Villa. They recorded the 18th and 20th fastest times of the session, with Asmer being 1.6 seconds faster than his teammate.

Result Day 1 – Private Testing at Jerez – December 2007